While perusing Leonard Cohen albums on Apple Music a couple of months ago, I noticed about 10 albums by Leonard that I had never seen before; all of them entitled "1967 studio sessions," each with the same gold star on black for it's cover. Each album contained about 15 songs - some of them were earlier takes of songs that would make it onto "Songs of Leonard Cohen", some of them were earlier versions of songs that wouldn't reappear for albums later, and a few of them were songs that were never released, or at least that I'd never heard before. It was a fascinating album, hearing all the different versions of leonard's lyrics and musical choices.
However, after a few weeks, all 10 of the albums disappeared, and I haven't been able to find a single trace of them - not even a mention of them - anywhere. Did anyone else manage to catch these before they disappeared? Does anyone know where to find these?

Well, that was a lightning response! And here's one in return .... and welcome to the forum!

Offhand, I'm sorry to say I don't know where to (or if you can) listen to them as listed.
I just did a quick google search and found that link.

I am aware of all the unpublished song titles and know of there being related studio sessions. They probably are the ones Leonard did with John Hammond and John Simon and some with Bob Johnston from mid-May to the end of November in 1967 in three Columbia studio rooms.

I totally agree, it would be more than wonderful to hear each and every song

Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!

This is the first time I've heard of these collections! It would be a surprize if they were available on Apple Music for a short period of time, probably a mistake, don't you think? Anyway: it looks like we will have some new releases of unpublished songs/versions in the future!

It has been said that there were 25 songs in those 1967 sessions and maybe these are they -

1. Avalanche
2. Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
3. Sisters Of Mercy
4. Teachers
5. Master Song
6. Anyone Can See (early Sing Another Song Boys)
7. The Sun Is My Son (early You Know Who I Am)
8. Nancy Where Have You Been Sleeping (early Diamonds In The Mine)
9. Come On Marianne (early So Long Marianne)
10. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
11. Stories Of The Street
12. Love Calls You By Your Name
13. Love Tries To Call You By Your Name
14. The Stranger
15. In The Middle Of The Night
16. Store Room
17. Blessed Is The Memory
18. Winter Lady
19. Winter Lady [Travelling Lady]
20. Suzanne
21. Jewels On Your Shoulder (early Take This Longing)
22. Sing Another Song Boys
23. The Beach Of Idios
24. Lost Change (early One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong)
25. Priests (copyright registered July 24 1967)

EDIT: Just a note - I've always thought that a song from those sessions was called Love Tries To Call You By Your Name and even though it's not listed with the others (it was originally recorded) I've also added Priests because I wanted it to be there!

More than interesting that reference to them should suddenly appear in this way after all these years

Last edited by B4real on Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:27 am, edited 2 times in total.

Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!

If these recordings were released online for a very short period at the end of last year then removed it was probably done by Columbia Records and/or Leonard's Estate to protect their copyright status and not as a taste of what's to come. In Europe unreleased recordings are protected for 50 years (1967-2017=50 years) but that protection is extended to 70 years if they are released in some form before the end of the 50th year after they were recorded. As much as I would like to think we will be seeing a new collection of all of these recordings being released to the masses, I suspect they were probably secretly made available online for an hour or two late last year then pulled so they get the extra 20 years protection and don't have to worry about them being released under public domain laws by someone else. So now they can sit in the vault for another 20 years before they have to worry about it again and we'll probably never get to hear them . Here's a link to a story about what the record labels are doing with other artists' unreleased material to protect their interest https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2 ... -on-iTunes

I had heard about that business of temporarily making old music temporarily available to extend copyrights, based on what has been said here, that certainly looks like the case in this instance.

However,maybe we shouldn't despair. There has been talk since Leonard's death about older material becoming released, and the copyright strategy would make sense to protect that project. Obviously there is money to be made from releasing these old songs and sessions and costs of production would not be great, so even rather small sales would generate profits for all involved. Therefore, it hardly makes sense for the record company or anyone else to just sit on these works.

PS - Bev, I believe that the "Love Tries to Call to Call You by Your Name" original title was mentioned in Ira Nadal's book. Thanks for the research, I would kill to have those 25 songs!

Hi Curt,
So nice to catch up with you again! I am comforted by your words!
I'm now remembering that there are lots of takes in recording sessions of Elvis Presley that are still being slowly fed out to the public and they say there were so many originally recorded that they will continue for years to come.
I wonder if LC's songs were actually available for download during that short exposure to the public. If so, it would be more than wonderful to hear from anyone who managed to obtain them ....I am open to legal bribery

Tyralot,
Maybe you could enlighten us as to whether that was the case when you originally saw these songs on Apple Music. Were they just there for show or not? No doubt you are kicking yourself now if they actually were within your grasp and they slipped through your fingers! I absolutely wish I had seen them then!

Speaking of some of the songs listed –

Anyone Can See was also called Just Two People.

The Beach Of Idios - Interesting that the small preposition used “of” instead of possibly “at” changes the connotation; just like the exclusion of “at” does in Hallelujah. It seems that there is no physical Beach of Idios on the island of Hydra or anywhere else in Greece but as far as I can ascertain “Idios” is a Greek word. The original meaning of it is:
Pertaining to oneself, one’s own, belonging to one’s self. Private, separate, proper to one.
Ha! I know I could give LC examples but I am firstly reminded of the song by Simon and Garfunkel, I Am A Rock -

“I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armour
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock
I am an island”

(The) Jewels (In) On Your Shoulder - I think one of the forum members (maybe Joe Way) has witnessed the one and only time that was performed live (not recorded there) in concert at the Filmore Room, Uni of Buffalo, NY, USA on 06 April 1967. That would have been a treat!

In The Middle Of The Night – thinking about the title of this song I can’t escape the thought of that’s when Leonard passed away. A kismet moment of time.

That above thought reminds me there is another song Leonard wrote and sang at the time of these studio recordings but I don’t think it was actually recorded called Your Father Has Fallen. And as we know that’s how it happened. Fate is always a strange bedfellow!

Btw - There are a few other songs that were recorded during these sessions that haven’t been listed in the link so maybe we should keep our eyes very wide open just in case they magically become briefly available in the not too distant future!

Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!

While I can certainly understand people's interest in hearing this unreleased material, from what I've read previously, Leonard Cohen was never fond of the idea -- in fact, I think he was always rather opposed to it. I seem to recall that he wasn't thrilled about those re-mastered versions of the first three albums including some bonus unreleased tracks, because he was obviously not happy with those versions for whatever reason(s) and chose to revise (or discard) them. (Maybe somebody else has a reference for that -- I cannot locate one off-hand, but I am quite certain that I did not imagine it.)

It may well be the case that Leonard has left clear instructions on how to deal with those unreleased studio recordings, and if his past actions and wishes are any indication, then I wouldn't hold my breath for their official release. (But, of course, I could be wrong! I never would have imagined that a 30 storey-high mural of Leonard would ever adorn a building in Montreal, plus a smaller one -- over his dead body, one might say -- so who knows anymore? )

Yes Lisa,
You are correct with Leonard’s feelings about releasing songs that were not previously on official albums. He said they ruined the initial intention and honesty of the original album. I believe that he didn’t give his OK for that to happen as it did that way with his first three re-released albums. He said it was never to occur again with the following official albums and so far it hasn’t.

Having LC’s words in mind, it’s reasonable to believe that these previously unreleased Songs, Takes etc don’t seem to fall into that category as they are not an addition to an official album. They would have a separate life of their own with new/old songs and varying versions of known songs. But having said that, I truly don't know how LC would feel about these circumstances.

Anyway, as it will probably eventuate that nothing will eventuate; at least it has been interesting to speculate!

“Leonard doesn’t approve many projects,” said his friend, manager and estate trustee, Robert Kory. “I rarely would encourage him to do a project.
He reluctantly said OK, but that it had better be good.”
Part of the reason Cohen gave it his blessing was the source material. The mural is based on a photo his daughter Lorca took in 2008.
“Leonard approved because we had Lorca’s photo,” Kory said.

Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!

Just an opinion, but based on all we have heard from and about the man, Leonard does not seem to be the kind of person that would leave a bunch of "do's" and "do-nots" for his family regarding his works. I am thinking that he had no interest in maintaining any "control from the grave," and that he was confident that his son and daughter would use their own best judgement in such matters. Whether Adam and Lorca feel that releasing studio sessions or other old work is a good idea is open to conjecture.

Just an opinion, but based on all we have heard from and about the man, Leonard does not seem to be the kind of person that would leave a bunch of "do's" and "do-nots" for his family regarding his works. I am thinking that he had no interest in maintaining any "control from the grave," and that he was confident that his son and daughter would use their own best judgement in such matters. Whether Adam and Lorca feel that releasing studio sessions or other old work is a good idea is open to conjecture.

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Well, whatever! I didn't/don't know any of these people personally, and I did concede, in my original remarks, that I could be totally wrong. Henceforth, I shall leave future conjecturing on these matters up to others. Que sera sera.